Better than expected

Sail Date:
July 2011

Destination:
Europe - Western Mediterranean

Embarkation:
Barcelona

We sailed on the Solstice July 25th from Barcelona staying overnight in Barcelona which was recommended by our travel agent and was a very good idea as it helped with jet lag. Barcelona is a beautiful city. We bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus. Really worth the money.

We boarded the ship at eleven without any problem. We were sitting having lunch by 12:30 in Bistro on Five. Enjoyed our first meal. There is a $5 cover charge at this restaurant.

The Solstice is a lovely ship. Our stateroom was great. Plenty of room, very clean and well supplied. Our attendants were excellent. Never had to ask for a thing.

We booked concierge class but feel it was not necessary We were supposed to get priority disembarkation but this never happened. We had to line up on deck four like everyone else. We only had a problem in Kotor all the other ports were just fine. We were off the ship in good time. Kotor was the only port where we booked a ships tour. It was very good More
and well worth the money.

We booked two other tours with Rome in Limo. Rome and Naples. Both tours were very good and I would recommend their services.

We chose Celebrity Select Dining and we would do so again. The food in MDR was alright just nothing special. They have a standard menu every night which does not change and another menu which does change. Lots of choices. The ocean view cafe for lunch and breakfast was excellent. We had no problem getting seats at any time. It opened at six so it was a perfect choice when we were taking a tour. We tried the express breakfast in the MDR and it was not a good experience. We had breakfast once delivered to our room and it was hot and exactly as we had ordered and on time. They call before they deliver which is a nice touch.

We booked the Tuscan Grill for three nights and cancelled the last night as I personally did not think the food was worth the extra charge of $60. The pasta at this restaurant is wonderful but I found the fillet to be tasteless and not tender. We eat a lot of fillet at home so perhaps I am spoiled. We had no difficulty in getting our money refunded for the cancellation.

We booked the premium beverage package and felt it was well worth the money and we made very good use of it. Lots of water, freshly squeezed juice, specialty coffee and of course drinks and wine. We never once had to ask for a refill of wine at dinner, very attentive. We really enjoyed the Cellar Masters before our dinner. Would book this package again

The entertainment was not as good as we expected. The jazz singer and the barbershop quartet were nice to listen to. We enjoyed the Captain's announcements at noon.

The pool area was very crowded on sea days but we were always able to find a chair. They do try to control the area by placing cards on your chair if it is left for too long. There were many children on board and we enjoyed watching them. Never really saw any misbehaving even on the elevators.

We met lots of wonderful people and really enjoyed our holiday. I would have to say the service was top notch and we have already booked for next year. Less

Cabin review: Celebrity Solstice Concierge Class Panorama Deck (9)

Port and Shore Excursions

Just loved Dubrovnik. We walked the walls and took the cable car ride. We left the ship early and did everything on our own. By leaving early 7:30am we missed all the crowds and the extreme heat. Beautiful old city. We bought our Kuna right outside the walls so no worry about exchanging money. Ship provided a bus to the old town.

To go to Florence would have taken about three hours each way by bus. We chose to go to Cinque Terre on our own by train. Not a problem at all. We arrived in LaSpezia and were tendered to shore. Took a little train to the main train station and visited all five cities. We had a great day and had no problem getting back to the ship on time.

We booked the tour of Kotor while on board and are glad we did. It was a lovely day. Beautiful scenery. The old town looked like it would have been nice to walk around but we had very little time so maybe next time.

Best experience of all. We booked a tour by Rome In Limo of Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano. Pompeii was amazing our guide just brought it to life for us. We had a wonderful lunch in Sorrento and free time to look around. We had about an hour in Positano and even walked down to the beach. Our tour guide was great his name was Raffaele and we would love to have him again.

We took a tour by Rome in Limo. Saw everything we wanted to see, the Vatican,the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain the Spanish Steps plus more. We did not tour the Colosseum as there was not enough time but at least we can say we saw it. Wonderful experience.

Arrived about two in the afternoon. We decided to do Venice on our own after reading Rick Steves guide. It was very confusing when getting off the ship. They should have had better directions. It was a long walk to get to the people mover especially in the heat. We bought a 24 hour pass for the Vaporetto and it was well worth the money. We spent the night in Venice so we used our pass for two days. The Vaporetto is a water bus. We took Vaporetto #1. It makes lots of stops along the Grand Canal taking about three quarters of an hour to arrive in St. Marks Square which was very crowded and very hot in the afternoon. If we were to do it again we would have gone to Murano and Burano on the first afternoon and the to the Square on the second day. Maybe next time. Day two we went again early into St. Marks Square and we were able to get around much better without the crowds. I forgot to add that the People Mover is about a two minute ride which gets you right into Venice and costs only one euro.

We went to Eze on our own. We had visited Eze previously and wanted to return. We had little difficulty finding our way. We used Rick Steves Med. Guide a new book. He gives lots of helpful hints for bus routes etc. We had no problem at all.